


Even For A Day

by combefemme



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mama Stilinski Feels, Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 20:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/combefemme/pseuds/combefemme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pack meetings were never this quiet. Derek didn't like it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even For A Day

Pack meetings were never this quiet. Derek didn’t like it.

“Where’s Stiles?” he asked, cutting Lydia off in the middle of something that was probably important. For someone whom he’d once considered to be the most vain person he’d ever met, Lydia Martin had turned out to be a surprisingly useful addition to the pack. Not only was she as intelligent as she was beautiful, but she was also the only person capable of keeping Jackson in line. Something for which Derek was eternally grateful.

He just didn’t like the way Stiles looked at her.

Which brought him back to the matter at hand.

Derek turned his attention to Scott, the most likely member of their ragtag little group to have an answer for him. Scott looked uncomfortable but Derek just raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘Well? I’m waiting’, and Scott sighed.

“We’re not going to be seeing Stiles today,” he answered.

It was Derek’s turn to sigh now, annoyed. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Well, it’s the only answer I’ve got,” Scott replied, forcefully, and Derek knew it wouldn’t do any good to push the subject.

Something was wrong, though. And Derek didn’t like it.

XxXx

Derek arrived at the Stilinski’s about twenty minutes after the meeting ended. As had become the pack custom, everybody split off after training to get cleaned up and then meet back at the Hale house for take out and movies. How that became a tradition, Derek would never know. Not that he minded.

The first thing he noticed when he parked his car out front was that Stiles’ dad appeared to be home, his car sitting in the driveway. This struck Derek as odd seeing as it was a Wednesday afternoon and the sheriff was almost constantly working.

That wasn’t going to stop him, though. It just meant he wasn’t going to be using the front door. Scott’s mom may be in on their little secret now, but Stiles’ dad had been passed out for most of what had happened that night at the police station. To him Derek was just that creepy older guy who hung out with high school kids and had once been arrested on suspicion of murder.

So, instead, Derek climbed up the trellis on the side of the house and shimmied along the roof to Stiles’ bedroom window. Peering through, he could see Stiles sitting on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands.

Something was definitely wrong.

Derek slid the window open and climbed through with a practised ease. Stiles didn’t react at all, not seeming to have noticed him.

Now that he was in the room, Derek could hear Stiles’ too fast heartbeat. His breathing was laboured and he was crying. His bed was creaking softly as he rocked himself back and forth.

Derek crossed the room and knelt down in from of the younger boy. Reaching out he tried to pry his hands – which were knotted in his hair so hard Derek was worried and was going to pull out what little he had – away from his face.

“Stiles—” he began, but was cut off when Stiles lashed out, his arm swinging wildly as he let out an agonized yell. Derek was so caught off guard that he actually fell backwards. When he looked back up, Stiles was in the same position he had been in, as if nothing had happened. It still seemed as if he didn’t actually know Derek was there.

Derek sat awkwardly for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong and what he could do when he remembered something Stiles had said once; something about having panic attacks after his mother had died. And suddenly everything made perfect sense and Derek could have kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. If anyone knew what that kind of grief felt like, it was him.

Not knowing what else to do, Derek stood and moved towards the bed. He slid up behind Stiles, one leg on either side of him and wrapped his arms around Stiles’ front to grab his hands. As gently as he could, he loosened Stiles’ grip on his hair, threading their fingers together and bringing their arms down into an embrace, pulling Stiles into his chest.

“Shh,” Derek whispered in his ear, steadying his rocking. Stiles let out another sob but already Derek could hear his pulse slowing.

Derek wanted to comfort him. He wanted to tell him that it would all be alright. That everything was going to be okay. But he couldn’t. There was nothing okay about losing your family.

“I know,” he found himself saying instead. “I know.”

And it seems that was all it took because after that Stiles’ breathing evened out and he relaxed into the embrace.

XxXx

Half an hour later, Derek found himself lying down on Stiles’ bed, the younger boy’s head on his chest, Derek’s hand carding through his short hair. Neither of them had said a word since Stiles had calmed down, but Derek was paying close attention to his heart rate, prepared to act at the first sign of another oncoming panic attack.

“Ten years,” Stiles suddenly mumbled.

“Hmm?” Derek asked, surprised. He hadn’t realized he’d been falling asleep.

“Ten years,” Stiles repeated. “It’s been ten years.”

Derek didn’t know what to say. It had been almost seven years since the fire and that was far too long to be without the people you love. Derek had been older than Stiles, too, more equipped to handle things. He couldn’t imagine losing his mother at six.

Derek didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. Stiles didn’t seem to mind.

“I have no idea how we’ve made it this long without her,” he continued. “Me and my dad. I don’t know how we didn’t just fall apart.”

“You’re strong.” Derek said it like it was obvious, and to him it was. How many times had Stiles saved his life in the past few months?

Stiles snorted and even though it was derisive Derek was glad of it. “Yeah. Right.”

“You are,” Derek replied. “You take care of your dad. Scott. The whole pack, for that matter. You will run headlong towards something that could kill you to save someone else. Might not be the smartest move, but definitely not weak.”

Stiles was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t have a choice in all that.”

“Yeah, you do,” Derek told him. “You don’t have to deal with werewolves and kanimas and nut jobs with weapons. You could just be a normal high school kid who does his homework and plays lacrosse and doesn’t have to worry about saving the world. And most people in your position would choose that.”

“Why do people keep thinking I’m some kind of hero?” Stiles asked.

“Because you are,” Derek answered without hesitation.

Stiles lifted his head to look at him and their faces were so close that Derek could feel his breath on his face. When Stiles gave a little laugh and shook his head Derek knew he was going to say something self-deprecating again and he didn’t want to hear it.

So, instead he closed the space between them and kissed him to keep him quiet. Stiles made a shocked little noise in the back of his throat before relaxing and kissing Derek back.

XxXx

After about another hour – in which there were a few more kisses, a little bit more talking, but mostly just comfortable silence – Derek knew the rest of the pack would be arriving at his house soon and that he had to get going.

“You should come,” Derek said as he opened the window and turned back to look at Stiles.

Stiles just shook his head. “No. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“She wouldn’t have wanted you to stop living, Stiles,” Derek told him. “Even if it is for just one day a year.”

“Three,” Stiles corrected and shrugged at Derek’s raised eyebrows. “Her birthday and Mother’s Day aren’t all too easy, either. Christmas kinda sucks, too, for that matter.”

“But you see my point,” Derek replied. Stiles just met his eyes and sighed. Finally, he nodded.

And that was how Stiles ended up at the Hale house, watching cheesy movies and eating take-out Chinese with the rest of the pack, Derek’s arm thrown across his shoulders, smiling in spite of himself.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first contribution to the world of Teen Wolf fanfiction. Try not to hate me too much.
> 
> I'm also on tumblr if anyone's interested >> carryonmywaywardtardis.tumblr.com


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